There is also a form of the imperative that corresponds to nous. This means the same as let’s in English. It is not used as often as the tu and vous forms.

2Forming the present tense imperative

For regular verbs, the imperative is the same as the tu, nous and vous forms of the present tense, except that you do not say the pronouns tu, nous and vous. Also, in the tu form of -er verbs like donner, the final -s is dropped.

Pronoun

-erverbs:donner

Meaning

-irverbs:finir

Meaning

-reverbs:attendre

Meaning

tu

donne

give

finis

finish

attends

wait

nous

donnons

let’s give

finissons

let’s finish

attendons

let’s wait

vous

donnez

give

finissez

finish

attendez

wait

Donne-moi ça!

Give me that!

Finissez vos devoirs et allezvous coucher.

Finish your homework and go to bed.

Attendons le bus.

Let’s wait for the bus.

TipWhen a tu imperative comes before en or y, the final -s is kept to make the words easier to pronounce. The s is pronounced like the z in the English word zip:

Vas-y!

Go on!

Donnes-en à ton frère.

Give some to your brother.

3Where to put the object pronoun

An object pronoun is a word like la (meaning her/it), me/moi (meaning me) or leur (meaning to them) that is used instead of a noun as the object of a sentence. In orders and instructions, the position of these object pronouns in the sentence changes depending on whether you are telling someone TO DO something or NOT TO DO something.